And with that, my summer Southeast Asia adventure is over. It's been a crazy 11 weeks away, and some crazy experiences. Have I learned something during this time? You betcha. Have I changed? I'll let you decide next time I see you. It's funny, we (Laetitia, Mike and I) would talk about the first thing we would do when we got back, what we would eat, what we were craving from home etc. Once we meet up in Guelph again, it will be a matter of what do we miss about Asia, what we wish we had done and so on. [View Full Entry]

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After spending 8 weeks together, I said goodbye to Mike and Laetitia at the airport in Jakarta as I was heading to Singapore for another 2 weeks while they were heading to Bangkok and then home. I can't believe our Global Vets adventures are over. It's definitely been a summer of great memories! Of course, now I'm in Singapore and here I met up with family, friends, and volunteering at the Singapore Zoo. Staying with family has been a fabulous change and having my own room and bathroom...and an actual shower instead of a bucket...let's just say it's a like [View Full Entry]

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Anyhow, Indonesia: our last stop for Team Southeast Asia but I will be going onward to the Singapore Zoo for my last two weeks in Asia. We are in a city called Bogor, about 60 km south of Jakarta in West Java. We are working with a veterinary NGO here, CIVAS (Centre for Indonesian Analytical Studies) which was formed in 2005. Despite being such a young organization, they have accomplished a lot and I’m very impressed with the work they have done. The origins of the group lay largely in the concern of a few recent vet grads with the avian [View Full Entry]

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IMPORTANT! Travelblog has been down and all my blogs were lost :( I'm in the process of restoring them but have no idea how successful I will be. The ONLY one I have certainly salvaged is this one from the last two weeks in Thailand...enjoy! It's been two weeks with almost no internet access (thus no update) but probably the most amazing two weeks of our Global Vets adventures so far. Our time was spent at the elephant hospital of the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, part of the National Elephant Institute . This is an AMAZING place, so idyllic and the [View Full Entry]

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It seems like a whirlwind of a month since I've been gone and I guess it has been. This is our last day in Koh Samui working at the Dog and Cat Rescue Centre and I think we're all a little sad to be leaving. Here are some of the many photos we've taken during our time here... [View Full Entry]

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So after a week of hard work, it was time to play again. This time, we headed out to a nearby island, Koh Tao, renowned for its diving. While the weather wasn't ideal, we were short on time as we only wanted to take the weekend off and braved the bad weather. Thanks to our PADI instructor in Toronto, we checked out a resort run by his friends. This was actually a VERY good thing because of course I forgot my certification number and dive log when packing for the weekend. I like to blame it on packing at 2:30 AM [View Full Entry]

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We've been in Thailand now for just over a week...in fact, I can pinpoint what I was doing exactly a week ago but you'll have to read on for more about that! We left Siem Reap to head to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Again I was expecting extreme poverty and was a little suprised at how developed it was. We ended up being sucked into a hostel...for a mere $6/night for three of us, who could resist! It was right on the lake, and in fact you could see the water below our room through the cracks between [View Full Entry]

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So this morning we woke up at 4:30 AM to hit Angkor Wat for sunrise. A little bleary eyed, we weren't the only ones to hit up the temples. I'm happy to say that taking a tuk-tuk today was well worth it as I am a little sore today (think about bumpy roads and a poorly padded bike seat). We hit up a few more temples and one of our unplanned stops (we read the map wrong!) turns out to be my favourite, Bateat Samre. I'm not sure why, but there's something very peaceful yet alluring about this one place (check [View Full Entry]

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I still have one entry left from Vietnam but we're in Cambodia now so I'd thought I'd seize the moment and write an entry about our time in Siem Reap. This is the jumping point for visiting the great Temples of Angkor and to say it is a contrast from Hanoi would be an understatement. Where Hanoi was 'relatively' untouched by Western culture and tourism, Siem Reap caters to tourists with shiny restaurants, internet cafes galore, and most people speak English. In some ways, it's a welcome change to have fewer obstacles to overcome but it definitely takes away from experiencing [View Full Entry]

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At last, I have time and faster internet to complete my last entry for Vietnam. The title of this entry is very indicative of what our 3 days in the northern part of Vietnam was like. We started off early in our hired car, complete with driver and two guides (Quan and Chien). Our first destination was Ha Giang City, about 300 km from Hanoi. This would, however, involve a 6.5 hour drive through some rather bumpy road and winding roads. Basically I had to take a Gravol to survive but I apparently forgot that I NEVER take a whole [View Full Entry]

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